Car-door fastening



(Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H/A. TOWNE.

GAR DOOR FASTENING.

110,245,415. Patented Aug. 9,1881.

Ffg l l (Model.)

2 sheets-sheen v2.

H. A. TOWNE..

GAR DOOR PASTENING.

110.245,415. Patented Aug. 9,1881.

i UNrTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HORACE A. TOWNE, OF BRAINERD, MINNESOTA.

CAR-DOOR FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,415, dated August 9, 1881.

Application filed February 7, 1881.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HORACE A. TOWNE, ot' Brainerd, in the county of Grow Wing and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Fastenings for Cars and for other Purposes, of which the following is a specificatioinreference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

In my Letters Patent No. 233,644, dated October 26, 1880, is described an inside fastening, more specially intended for end doors of freightcars, which locks automatically in the act of closing the door. The invention therein set forth embraces, in part, a gravitatin g bolt having two arms at a right angle to each other and a central horizontal section serving as a pivot. This bolt is pivoted to the inner side of the sliding door, near an upper corner thereof, and is used in connection with a door-frame having a cavity cut in its exterior face, into which one arm ot' the bolt, when brought opposite thereto, is caused to fall by the weight of the other arm as the door is closed. The invention described in said Letters Patent furnishes an inside fastening which offers no mark on the exterior of the car as to its location, thus lessening the liability of its being tampered with.

My present invention contemplates the use of so much of my prior invention as is above alluded to, in connection with other features, as a fastening for the side doors of freight-cars, and has for its object the unlocking ofthe cardoor by means exterior of the car. The additional features referred to comprise a vertical bolt operated or raised by a key from the exterior of the car to cause the lifting of the short arm of the pivoted gravitating bolt, whereby the door is left free to be opened. The vertical bolt is in itself gravitating-that is to say, it falls of its own weight when relieved from the key and its attendant mechanism, the bolt being thus withdrawn from contact with the short arm of the gravitating bolt, permitting the latter to assume the position necessary to the locking of the door. The locking of the door, when closed, is therefore effected in the manner and by the means described in my said former Letters Patent. The key-hole is covered by a card, paper, glass, or other seal, which may be marked with the number of a (Model.)

station or bear a private mark; and it will be seen that the key cannot be inserted and the vertical bolt raised to lift the inside gravitating` bolt, and thus admit ot' the opening ot' the door, without the breaking of the seal, which will at once indicate that the car has been opened without authority. The mark on the seal prevents the clandestine insertion of another seal without discovery.

In the accompanying drawings. Figure l is a view of the side of a boxcar having my invention applied thereto, the door being closed. Fig. 2 is a similar` view, showing the door-partially open. Fig. 3 is a vertical section. Fig. 4 is a view of the door partially open, as seen from the inside ot' the car. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are enlarged detail views, showing parts hereinafter described.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the views.

A is a boX freight-car having the usual side doors, one of which is shown by B. The door slides in ways in the ordinary manner.

At the upper left-hand corner of the door, on the inside thereof, is placed the fastener C, which consists of a metallic bolt of circular crosssection bent to the form described in my said Letters Patent, and also particularly shown in Fig. 5 of the annexed drawings. The slot in the door-frame, into which the short arm g of the bolt enters for fastening the door, is shown by E.

A groove, b, is cut in the door-frame, start ing from the slot E and descending to a point about midway of the height ofthe door-opening. The lower end of the groove terminates in a square cavity, b', cut in the frame, as

shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Within the groove l) is placed a vertical bolt, c, the upper end of which, when the bolt c is raised, is adapted to strike the short arm g of the gravitating bolt and to raise said arm within the slot E. The lower end ot' the bolt c is bent.- inward to form a toe which rests and slides Within a guidinggroove, d, cut in the frame, as shown in Fig. 2. Metallic plates f are let into the face of the door-frame iiush therewith, and serve to prevent the outward movement of the vertical bolt o from the groove b. A plate, b, covers the cavity b', and upon a. pin, e, held by the plate b is pivoted the arm h, which rests un- IOO der the toe of the vertical bolt. The outer end ot' the pivot-pin e is square and projects outward from the door-frame into the door-jamb D, secured to the outer side ofthe door-frame. The door-jamb is perforated to receive the pivot-pin, and at its outer side is provided with a sealplate, t', within the central recess ot' which a suitable seal is placed to cover the pivot-pin.

The door having been automatically locked in the act of closing by means of the gravitating bolt C in the manner described in my said former Letters Patent, and it is desired to open the door from the outside ofthe car, the person having authority to do so punctures or breaks the seal covering the pivot-pin c by means of the key or other instrument. The key is then fitted over the squared end of the pivot-pin and turned, the movement effecting the lifting of the arm h, which engages the toe of the vertical bolt c. The bolt c is thereupon elevated, which brings its upper end in con tact with the short arm g of the gravitating bolt C, throwingr it from its horizontal position in the slot or keeper E into a vertical position within the slot cut in the door to receive it, when the door is left free to be slid open in the manner described in my said former Letters lPatent. The key having been withdrawn the vertical bolt c will fall ot' its weight, carrying the pivoted arm L with it, and when it is desired to close and lock the door again it is only necessary to slide the door to the left, when the short arm g of the gravitating-bolt C, being brought opposite its slot E, will fall therein, locking the door in the manner dcscribed in my said former Letters Patent.

A car may be provided with both end and side door fastenings, in accordance with the inventions described in my said Letters Patent No. 233,644, and herein respectively.

I claim as my present invention- 1. In an automatic inside fastening device for freightcar or other doors, a two-armed bolt pivoted to the inner side of a sliding door, a slotted door-frame to receive the shorter arm of said bolt, which locks therewith by the free fall of the longer arm, combined with a vertical sliding bolt operated by a key from the exterior ofthe car, to throw said short arm of the gravitating bolt from its slot or keeper, whereby the door is left free to be opened, substantially as specified.

2. In an automatic inside fastening device for car and other doors, a door-frame having a slot cut in its exterior face and a sliding door having pivoted within its inner face a gravitating two-armed bolt, one arm of which is caused, when brought opposite the slot in said frame as the door is closed, to fall therein by the Weight ot' the other arm of the bolt, combined with a vertical bolt and pivoted arm to operate the same from the exterior of the car by means of a key, whereby the locking portion of the gravitating bolt may be removed from its slot or keeper and the door left free to be opened, substantially as specified.

3. In an automatic inside fastening for car sliding doors, a gravitating bolt having two arms at a right angle to each other and a central horizontal section serving as a pivot, com-- bined with a vertical sliding bolt and an operating arm and key for unlocking the door from the exterior ot' the car, substantially as specitied.

4. Combined in an automatic inside fastening for car-doors, a vertical sliding rod adapted to eiect the opening or unlocking of the same, a pivoted arm operating to raise the said rod, and a seal covering the pivot of said arm, substantially as specified.

Witness my hand this 2d day of December, 1880.

I.' J. DELAMEN, HENRY MOULE. 

